medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Information about Audomarus (d. ca. 670?; in French and English usually Omer; in both languages also Audomar) comes chiefly from his originally early ninth-century Vita (BHL 763, etc.). This makes him a native of a place called Aurea Vallis said to be near Constantia (some have thought Konstanz but Coutances seems a better bet) who became a monk of Luxeuil under its abbot St. Eustasius (r. ca. 612-629) and who in the reign of a king Dagobert (this will be Dagobert I, r. in Austrasia 623-634) after consecration by St. Acharius of Noyon served, not without miracles and with his seat at Thérouanne, as a missionary bishop and _de facto_ evangelist in what is now the Pas-de-Calais.
Aided by three monks who had come from his native region, Sts. Mummolinus, Ebertramnus, and Bertinus, Audomarus oversaw the foundation in his diocese of a monastic community on an estate called Sithiu (the abbey, dedicated to St. Peter, was later called Saint-Bertin; situated on a nearby hill, its medievally more defensible town, Saint-Omer, takes its name from Audomarus). Late in life Audomarus lost his eyesight but carried on as before. He was buried with great honor in the monastery church at Sithiu where Bertinus was abbot. Post-mortem miracles confirmed his sanctity. Thus far Audomarus' Vita, which appears to have been written for the abbey of Saint-Bertin. The early Vitae of the founder of the abbey of Fontenelle, St. Wandregisilus, (BHL 8804, 8805; the former's earliest witness is thought to be of the mid-eighth century) relate that that worthy was ordained priest by Audomarus, bishop of Thérouanne.
Some period-pertinent images of St. Audomarus:
a) as depicted in an eleventh-century copy of his Vita (Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque de l'agglomération de Saint-Omer, ms. 698):
1) Smaller views: http://saintomer.pagesperso-orange.fr/personnages/omer.htm
2) Larger views (some images not in the previous selection):
http://tinyurl.com/odmxgx6
http://tinyurl.com/pnqzbaw
http://tinyurl.com/nvebmtf
http://tinyurl.com/pjc7bof
http://tinyurl.com/p9t79ao
http://tinyurl.com/oneclul
3) A few others will be found in the selection here: http://tinyurl.com/25xyfd9
b) as depicted in an earlier twelfth-century legendary from the abbey of Cîteaux (ca. 1101-1133; Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 642, fol. 65v):
http://tinyurl.com/2fhc4bg
c) as depicted in the early twelfth-century original manuscript of Lambert of St.-Omer's _Liber Floridus_ (finished, 1121; Gand / Gent, Universiteitsbibliotheek / Bibliothèque Universitaire, ms. 92, fol. 260r):
http://tinyurl.com/ouekffr
d) as depicted in a later twelfth-century sacramentary for the Use of Saint-Bertin and Saint-Omer (Bourges, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 37, fol. 68r):
http://tinyurl.com/2ep6fc3
e) as depicted in an early fifteenth-century breviary for the Use of Paris (Châteauroux, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 2, fol. 335v):
http://tinyurl.com/22l8qrn
f) as portrayed in two places on his thirteenth-century cenotaph in the originally late twelfth- to sixteenth-century in the église (ex-cathédrale) Notre-Dame in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais):
1) his _gisant_:
http://monumentshistoriques.free.fr/cathedrales/stomer/interieur/cenotaphe.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/nc7stxe
Detail views:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5042/5201093631_20b1613d89_b.jpg
http://bayenghem.etab.ac-lille.fr/files/2015/05/IMG_5324.jpg
2) in one of the niches (forgiving the erring servant):
http://saintomer.pagesperso-orange.fr/monuments/cenotaphe_13.jpg
g) as depicted (at left, receiving Communion) in the mid- to later fourteenth-century Breviary of Charles V (betw. 1347 and 1380; Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 1052, fol. 308r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84525491/f1025.image
h) as depicted (healing the sick) in two earlier sixteenth-century panel paintings (ca. 1530-1540) mounted in the église (ex-cathédrale) Notre-Dame in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais):
1) https://www.flickr.com/photos/ana_sudani/18777311289/in/photostream/
2) https://www.flickr.com/photos/ana_sudani/18775826100/in/photostream/
Best,
John Dillon
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